Misinformation on Number of School Shootings Fueled by Inconsistent Reporting

Different definitions of “school shooting” are contributing to misinformation about the issue.

There are several efforts to track the number of school shootings in the U.S. One of them counted 346 school shootings in 2023. The other counted 37. Both have been cited in media reports – the larger one, more often – but the discrepancy is rarely explained. How could they be so different?

The Violence Project, an independent operation run by data scientist David Riedman, has a “K-12 School Shooting Database.” The tracker includes any incident in which "a gun is brandished, is fired, or a bullet hits school property for any reason, regardless of the number of victims, time, or day of the week." It counted 346 incidents in 2023, and counted nine in the first 12 days of 2024.